Ever since I have made my way out the burning heaps of OCD that used to surround me, I have found myself in a constant state of fearing the relapse. When I read my journal entries dating back to when I used to struggle with my OCD, I feel happy that I am not going [...]
“My Struggle with OCD” Throughout the entirety of my life up until my sophomore year of high school, I considered myself to be a very outgoing and enjoyable person. I had plenty of peers and loved going out to either just relax and talk with friends or carouse and have a “memorable night”. I [...]
Often I have found that many people around me do not fully grasp the concept of a mental illness. The term mental illness, to them, is like an alien game. Something that they do not much about, but think that they do. Having a mental illness isn’t a scream for attention. A person’s mental health [...]
Hello my name is Zach Liberatore and I am a victim of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I was clinically diagnosed with it and prescribed medication during the end of 2012 when I checked into the psychiatric ward at ECMC. This disease dragged me to the brink of insanity and I had reached the point where I [...]
My Secret Is Out: I Have OCD! When I was young, a neighbor accused me of creating mischief on her property. She called the police. By the time they arrived, I was about five miles away. They tracked me down and brought me home. She filed charges, and we went to court. She lost. But [...]
I realized something was different when I was in grade school. When I was six, the compulsions were small – like scratching my nose exactly five times or touching part of my bedpost before I went to sleep. But as I grew, so did they. Even though we were not a religious Jewish family, I [...]
I’m eight years old, sitting alone in my room; Dr. Phil is playing on the TV. A blonde woman is crying about her inability to wear red or associate with numbers that say 666. I can’t tear my eyes away. The same red shirt has hung in my closet for the last year because I [...]
My story begins when I was around 8 years old, I’d been ill with nausea and vomiting. I’d never knowingly been sick before. I remember feeling frightened. I remember feeling a total lack of control over my body. Over the following weeks and months I can remember becoming obsessed with making sure I wasn’t sick [...]
“I'm calling on @Target to remove the #OCD sweater! Please RT if you stand for #mentalhealth @IOCDF” That’s the tweet that blew up my phone yesterday and had me responding to haters and praises for the remainder of the day. Who knew everyone could get so worked up about a sweater, right? A lot of [...]
Learning to be present I have lived my life by to-do lists ever since I was a child. Throughout high school, college, my career, and my home life I have meticulously planned out each activity and relish the moment when I can check something off the list and move on to the next. A dwindling [...]
